Cancer isn't stopping Glenn Hills player's college football dream

Saturday

Kenya James will never forget April 23, 2019. Her son, Kyle Frazier, had just gotten out of the shower after a workout and noticed a large lump on his throat.

At first, he didn’t think much of it because of his history of swollen lymph nodes. James, a cardiac imaging specialist at Aiken Regional Medical Centers, looked at the lump, felt it and instantly knew it wasn’t just a swollen lymph node.

“My heart sunk,” she said.

They rushed to the emergency room at Aiken Regional, where Frazier went through tests and scans.

James did everything she could to keep herself together – small talk in the waiting room, trips to the car, anything to clear her mind of the six-letter word she feared her 17-year-old son might have to face.

Meanwhile, Frazier didn’t think much of it. It didn’t hurt, he didn’t have a fever, and it never crossed his mind that it could have been anything worse than a small infection.

James couldn’t even look at her son at the hospital. With her knowledge in the medical field, she all but knew what the results would tell her. She wasn’t ready to face that reality. She wasn’t ready for her son, the standout football player at Glenn Hills High School who'd committed to Savannah State University, to face something as serious as what she thought.

Her deepest fears were realized when the doctor came back with the results: Cancer.

She was devastated, but she didn’t let her son see it. And when she told family of the diagnosis – Hodgkin's lymphoma with nodular sclerosis – she didn’t let any of them break down in front of him either.

“I told everybody when they came to see him, 'Stay out here and get yourself together and then come in, because we’re not crying in front of him,’” James recalled telling family at the hospital.

They listened.

Falling in love with football

Early on, James knew her son was going to be special on the football field. He was always a big kid, so football was the easy option. He played basketball and baseball, but football stuck around.

When he was younger, he started out playing flag football and hated it at first because everybody was faster than him. When he put pads on, everything changed. A deeper love for football was born. It was in sixth grade when James knew her son would be playing college football.

“His heart was always in the game in a fighting way and also just a love for the game,” James said. “So if he was going to put his time in to be the best he can be, then it was my job to support him and help him live that dream.”

Once Frazier started to develop his skills, James started doing more to help him reach the next level.

It started in seventh grade when they packed the car for an eight-day, six-camp road trip. Those trips became annual throughout high school.

Going to those camps was important. Frazier not only got a chance to see talent around the South and hone his skills, but he also got the necessary exposure.

“When college coaches get off a plane in Atlanta, they don’t have a reason to come down I-20,” James remembers being told throughout the process. “You got all those schools and all those (talented players) in the Atlanta area, so if you’re sitting in Augusta, waiting on a coach, then you might be sitting.”

Frazier gave coaches a reason to add Augusta to their stops throughout Georgia. After the camp caravan concluded during his junior year, Frazier started drawing interest from some Division I programs. Michigan State, The Citadel, Georgia Southern and Kennesaw State all started showing interest in the two-way lineman.

It wasn't until his former high school coach Nick Collins, passed his name along to new Savannah State coach Shawn Quinn that he reopened his recruitment.

“He was one of those guys that were out that had a ton of upside to him,” said Quinn, who is entering his first year at the helm at Savannah State. “I thought he was a really impressive guy in person. I like his personality and I thought he was a really insightful guy.”

From there, Frazier and his mom did their official visit, and Savannah State felt right. Within a few weeks, he rescinded his verbal commitment to Albany State and signed his national letter of intent to Savannah State.

Choosing Division II Savannah State was an easy decision for Frazier. From the moment he stepped on campus, he knew he was home. The players at Savannah State talked to him as if he were already a member of the team.

He just wanted to go to school, get his degree and play football. He wasn’t about all the hoopla of going to a Division I school. He wanted a full ride, and most of his offers from Division I schools were partial scholarships or preferred walk-on. Frazier wanted to play on day one.

As graduation started approaching, Frazier checked choosing a school off his list. Then he began getting ready for the next part of his life. On April 22, that meant one thing. On April 23, it meant another.

‘Is it treatable?’

When Frazier was in his hospital bed, awaiting the results of what was on his neck, he kept a positive attitude, largely because cancer was an afterthought.

When he heard the news, he broke down, cried for about 10 minutes and then got himself together, James said. He then asked the doctor two simple questions.

“Is it treatable? Can I still play football?”

Both had the same answer: Yes.

His whole mindset changed. He realized it didn’t have to define him.

“One of the things that I shared with him right away is my wife works in cancer,” Collins said. “I talked to him about his approach. My logo is real simple: Find a way, or make a way. And that his attitude was going to determine what happened.”

Three days after his diagnosis, Frazier wasn’t in the hospital. He was dressed and headed to senior prom.

The next few weeks involved more scans and getting Frazier started on chemotherapy. His first round of chemo was on May 3, and he takes it every two weeks.

“We’re taking it one day at a time, one treatment at a time, one test at a time (and) we get through it,” James said. “Some days are better than others. We get through the bad days and appreciate the good days.”

When he was originally diagnosed, he was listed between stages two and three of Hodgkin’s lymphoma. After a scan showed the tumor looked better than what they originally thought, he was later listed as early stage two. This shortened his chemotherapy treatments to eight rounds and shortened the time from about six months to four.

Though he wasn’t able to go back to school after his diagnosis, he finished his school work and walked across the stage Thursday as a graduate of Glenn Hills.

Working for the future

In the month since his diagnosis, Frazier and James were worried about whether Savannah State would pull his scholarship.

Quinn said that wasn’t even an option.

“He stuck with us when he had other schools looking at him, and commitment is a two-way street,” Quinn said. “It had been a dream of his to get one. It also gave him a little something to look forward to.”

James said that once Frazier successfully completes his chemotherapy, the focus returns to getting him ready, both mentally and physically, to officially enroll at Savannah State in January.

During his off weeks of chemo treatments, James said she is keeping Frazier active with walks around the neighborhood. She's also trying to keep his weight up, giving him between 4,500 to 5,000 calories a day. Frazier, who is 6-foot-3, weighed 273 pounds before he started chemo. He is now at 260.

During his chemo weeks, when Frazier can eat, she said she’ll sneak protein in some of his snacks and make sure he’s eating – and eating right – because come January, he will have to be ready at the level of his teammates.

“I really wasn’t ready for my baby to leave,” James said. “But now, I’m ready. I’m like OK, you’re going to go out there – and of course we’re going to keep our appointments up. Now, I’m ready for him to go because this has opened my eyes to how fast things can happen.

“So I told him we’re going to live it up.”

Though Frazier's dream was almost stripped away from him, he never lost the love he had for football. He’s going to be the example to his Savannah State teammates that just because you have it hard, somebody else has it harder.

“I think he’s going to be a walking, daily reminder to his teammates about what it takes to persevere,” Quinn said.

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